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Think about the people closest to you. Tell us about how the coronavirus has affected them, and their life.

When I think about people close to me who have been affected, the first person I think about is my partner since we live together. His mental health has declined. He has been struggling a lot with depression, just as I have. Neither of us have had the ability to take time away from work to see a professional to work through what we're experiencing, or what we were working through prior to the pandemic. I worry about him a lot. I worry about me a lot, too. The other people that come to mind are family. I've lost four family members during this pandemic alone. I've watched one of my family members lose stable housing and find shelter with others in our family. I've watched family members who used to be close start to fight over trivial political leanings, over their disbelief in vaccines or the virus, and over conspiracy theories. Some of the family members who I used to think were close are strangers to me now. I feel like I never knew them. I wish the pandemic hadn't been politicized in the way that it was. I wish my family had been able to work through it together.